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Ohio’s public school system earned a better grade on the nation’s report card this year, but the
state’s rank — fifth in the nation three years ago — fell to 12th.

Education Week’s Quality Counts 2013 gave Ohio schools a B-.

For the fifth year, Maryland ranked first in the nation with a B+, followed by Massachusetts,
New York and Virginia, all earning Bs. South Dakota ranked last with a D+.

The national average was C+.

“We’re pleased to be rated 12th and to be among the top states,” said John Charlton, spokesman
for the Ohio Department of Education. “But the overall grade of a B- reassures that we have more to
do. We are already addressing some areas.”

Ohio got its lowest mark, a D-, for how well high-school graduates are prepared for college.
Charlton noted that several state initiatives are on the way, including ones aimed at reducing the
number of students requiring remedial coursework in college.

State lawmakers also recently approved several laws aimed at improving schools. In the coming
years, students will face more-rigorous curriculum standards, tougher assessments and end-of-course
exams. There also will be a third-grade reading guarantee, which will prevent youngsters not
reading at grade level from moving on to the fourth grade, with some exceptions. New A-F state
report cards for schools and districts also will be implemented later this year.

Ohio earned some of its best marks for strong curriculum standards and student assessments, but
ranked 40th in the nation for disparities in spending across school districts and 39th for
differences in per-student spending.

In addition to the national education newspaper’s annual evaluation of education policies,
student performance and other indicators in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, this year’s
report spotlighted school environment and how safety, discipline policies and peer relationships,
including bullying, impact student learning.

Hours after the report’s release yesterday came news of another school shooting that left one
student in a rural California high school critically wounded and another in custody. A teacher
suffered a minor wound. Concerns about school safety already were heightened after 20 students and
six adults were gunned down last month in a Connecticut elementary school.

The report found growing consensus about the importance of security and other “school-climate”
issues beyond states’ traditional focus on students’ academic performance. For instance, “
zero-tolerance” policies in many schools are being favored over ones that focus on reducing
conflict and avoiding expulsions or out-of-school suspensions to keep students in the
classroom.

“The conditions for success in schools include not just having high-quality teachers, but
ensuring that they are working in schools designed for success. In schools designed for success,
there’s a growing interest in ensuring that school climate supports students,” said Deborah
Delisle, the U.S. Department of Education’s assistant secretary for elementary and secondary
education and Ohio’s former superintendent of public instruction.

A survey included in the report showed that 83 percent of administrators and 72 percent of
teachers cited “school climate” as very important to student achievement. “School safety” was
deemed very important by 61 percent of administrators and 64 percent of teachers.

“Obviously, if a student feels safe they will perform better,” Charlton said.All schools, he
said, have school-safety plans on file with the attorney general’s office, and the state will host
another safe-schools summit this summer after holding the first in five years last summer.

Increasing incidents of school violence clearly are on the minds of teachers.

More than 150 central Ohio educators are signed up for a law-enforcement class next week in
Columbus on how to deal with killers. Attorney General Mike DeWine made the “active-shooter” class
offered through the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy available to teachers for the first time in
the wake of the Connecticut shooting. Additional classes will be scheduled across the state.

Meanwhile, more than 1,000 teachers and other school employees, mostly from Ohio, have applied
for 24 spots in a free firearms-training program being offered later this year by the Buckeye
Firearms Association.